MUMBAI: He was a familiar face at all protests, but few knew about his colourful life. Dawood Khan, who passed away on Saturday, had been a soldier and a trade unionist; he’d rubbed shoulders with leaders ranging from Ambedkar to Morarji Desai, without ever taking advantage of his acquaintance with them.

Dawood Khan: A soldier, a trade unionist and a lifelong fighter

The last time I met Dawood Bhai, as he was called, was two years back, at an Eid Milan function at CST, for which he’d travelled all the way from Goregaon. His spirited speech energized the hall; the 91-year-old urged those half his age never to give up.

His fighting spirit must have come from his experiences in three wars: 1962, 1965 and 1971. The two medals he received would adorn his shoulder at every Republic Day function.

Or perhaps it came from his trade union experience: after retirement from the army, he joined the railways and became general secretary of the union. His participation in the historic 1974 railway strike led to his arrest during the Emergency. Such was his loyalty to the railways that when he fell seriously ill last week, he insisted on being admitted to the Jagjivan Ram Railway Hospital at Bombay Central, instead of one near his Goregaon home. That’s where he breathed his last.

Dawood Bhai was the senior most member and general secretary of the Bombay Aman Committee, which had helped victims during the ’92-’93 riots, brought them to testify before the B N Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry into those riots, and led the campaign to get the Commission’s Report implemented.

With his distinctive cap and long beard, Dawood Bhai stood out from the rest of the Committee, both in appearance and ideology. He was its only Leftist member, proudly recalling his association with the red flag of the Socialist Party.

This association prevented him from joining any religious group. Instead, he guided youngsters in such groups towards secular activities such as setting up libraries, gymnasiums and skill classes in their slums, recalls activist Nabeel Shah, whose association with him dates back to the 1984 Mumbai Bhiwandi riots.

But Dawood Bhai was his own man. Defying his Leftist colleagues, he saw to it that a picture of Chhatrapati Shivaji was put up inside the Bombay Central car shed. “We must acknowledge the special place Shivaji Maharaj has in the workers’ hearts,” he argued. Sarfaraz Arzoo, editor, ‘Hindustan Urdu Daily’, remembers him reciting, by memory, Jyotiba Phule’s Marathi powada on Prophet Mohammed.

The ex-soldier could equally go against influential community members. He vociferously opposed the sale of wakf land to Dhirubhai Ambani; Antilla now stands on that plot.

From Kanshiram to Abu Asim Azmi, Dawood bhai knew every politician who sought the “Muslim vote,” but he refused to join them, knowing that they would use the community without working for it. He even rejected offers to stand for election during the Janata Party wave after the Emergency, and again when the Janata Dal was formed. “My place is with the workers,” he always said.